Many people in higher spheres are criticizing Obama for commuting Chelsea Manning's 35-years sentence, and to release him on May 2017.
What people has to focus on is Obama's motivations for doing it.
On January 11, Edward Snowden tweeted to Obama:
"Mr. President, if you grant only one act of clemency as you exit the White House, please: free Chelsea Manning. You alone can save her life."
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/819177951040249856
It is curious that Snowden asks clemency for Manning and not for himself.
On January 12, WikiLeaks tweeted:
"If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case."
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/819630102787059713
Now, I don't know about you, but this was a very astonishing move. Will Assange agree to extradition now that Mannings is to be free?
If anything, interesting developments out of the blue.
Original News:
The announcement came days before Obama commuted Manning's sentence
Five days before President Obama commuted Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence, WikiLeaks tweeted that the group’s editor in chief Julian Assange would agree to be extradited to the U.S. if Manning was given clemency.
Obama’s decision means Manning will be released in May instead of in 2045, when her sentence was originally due to end, the New York Times reports. She leaked hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, for which she was convicted in 2013
“If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case,” WikiLeaks tweeted on Thursday. Assange has been in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012, and if extradited to the U.S., would likely be prosecuted for his involvement in the publication of millions of leaked, secret documents. (He also faces Swedish allegations of rape and sexual assault.)If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case https://t.co/MZU30SlfGK
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 12, 2017
Edward Snowden also threw his support behind clemency for Manning, tweeting on Wednesday, “Mr. President, if you grant only one act of clemency as you exit the White House, please: free Chelsea Manning. You alone can save her life.”
Commenting on Snowden and Manning’s pleas for clemency on Friday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest contrasted the two cases. “Chelsea Manning is somebody who went through the military criminal justice process, was exposed to due process, was found guilty, was sentenced for her crimes, and she acknowledged wrongdoing,” he said, according to the Times. “Mr. Snowden fled into the arms of an adversary, and has sought refuge in a country that most recently made a concerted effort to undermine confidence in our democracy.”
WikiLeaks had not yet tweeted in response to the news as of late Tuesday afternoon. -- source
UPDATE 1/19/2017
It didn't take long to get an answer. Assange backpedaled his pledge for extradition.
UPDATE 1/20/2017"If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case," WikiLeaks said, apparently referring to the U.S. Department of Justice's continuing investigation into the radical transparency website.
But when Obama granted clemency to Manning on Tuesday, setting a May release date that lops almost 30 years off her sentence, Assange's lawyers said it wasn't enough.
"There's no question that what President Obama did is not what Assange was seeking," said Barry Pollack, who represents the WikiLeaks chief in the United States. "Mr. Assange was saying that Chelsea should never have been prosecuted, never have been sentenced to decades in prison, and should have been released immediately."
Melinda Taylor, who also represents Assange, agreed, saying in an email that clemency was "far short of what Mr. Assange asked for and what Ms. Manning deserved (which is to be pardoned and freed immediately)."
Neither supplied any evidence that Assange had used the words "immediate" or "pardon" in relation to his extradition offer, but Pollack said it was clear that was what Assange meant — noting that the Australian computer expert had previously pushed for Manning's pardon.
"Why would he be called for Manning's release in a few months from now?" Pollack said. "You can parse his tweets any way that you want to parse them. I think his position has been clear throughout."
Critics of Assange had a field day, accusing him of dishonesty or using Manning's case to win publicity. "Julian Assange Backpedals on Extradition Promise in Record Time," read one headline in tech website Gizmodo.
It's not the first time Assange's pronouncements in relation to Manning haven't quite worked out as advertised.
In December 2010, journalists revealed that WikiLeaks had failed to honor a pledge to help support Manning's legal defense fund. It was only after the story was aired in the media that WikiLeaks paid up, reducing its expected contribution from $50,000 to $20,000 and then finally to $15,100, according to press accounts at the time -- source
Odd. Now Assange says he looks forward to discussing with the DOJ the terms for his extradition.
"I look forward to having a conversation with the DOJ about what the correct way forward is," -- source